Kalymnos in gear for spring: New shops, recycling, and more good stuff

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Hello and kaló mína everyone! The first day of spring is officially here. The weather is overcast, but ideal for fantasizing about cliffs while we’re hard at work on our current project (a ‘Best of Greece’ sport climbingguidebook due to be published later this year). February on Kalymnos was quite good; in fact, it was one of the driest in recent memory. As always, January and February were the slowest climbing months, with a dozen or so climbers enjoying the peace and quiet in an almost-deserted Masouri. But a lot has been happening behind the shuttered storefronts, as business owners and residents ‘clean house’ in anticipation of the upcoming spring climbing season.

Specifically, new shops, renovations, and a very important service are coming to Kalymnos and the climbing areas of Masouri, Myrties and Armeos. Most notably:

• Two pharmacies; one in Masouri, one in Elies. The one in Masouri will be more of a drugstore selling non-prescription pharmaceuticals, vitamins, supplements and so on. The one in Elies (a 10-min drive from Masouri) will be a full-service pharmacy.

• A new beachfront hotel. Remember the white-and-red abandoned building on the beach at Masouri, between Masouri Beach Hotel and Zorba’s restaurant? Well, it’s being renovated at last! Construction is well on its way to turning this lovely building into a 13-room hotel called Masouri Blu.

• A new bakery

• A bigger & better Wild Sport climbing shop. The current shop at Plaza Hotel’s lower level will continue to operate, but the business is also expanding to a brand-new space at street-level right across the street. The new Wild Sport will be up and running within the next couple of weeks. Besides the shop, there will be a nice terrace for hosting events, comfy seats for lounging, free WiFi, even some free tablets for surfing the net, courtesy of the shop.

• Additions to Elena Village hotel (home of The North Face Kalymnos Climbing Festival). Construction workers have been at it for several weeks now. More rooms? More parking spaces? A water park? It remains to be seen.

And last but not least…

• Recycling! A special truck and 200 blue recycling bins for paper, plastic, glass and metal were delivered to Kalymnos last month and will be distributed throughout the island at some point, hopefully sooner than later. That’s a good start. The next critical step is getting people to actually use the bins, and to do so properly. (By the way, Kalymnos schools have been recycling paper on their own since last year, thanks to the Parent-Teacher Association’s initiative. Kudos!)

Besides all of the above, most business owners and residents of the Masouri area are painting walls, reupholstering chair cushions, trimming shrubs, and generally “freshening up” their properties for the new climbing season. Most shops will be open for business by March 15th, with only a few opening later, on May 1st. Coupled with the buzz surrounding the upcoming mayoral elections in late May, Kalymnos is pulsing with energy.

It’s encouraging to see this part of Kalymnos moving, developing, not stagnating. Like most other places in Greece, Kalymnos has been deeply affected by the crisis and lost thousands of its most productive citizens to a new wave of immigration. By local estimates, at least 4000 young Kalymnians have emigrated; mostly to Australia, where there’s a large expat community. So while such small-scale economy is just a drop in the proverbial bucket, having work options matters and some of these jobs fill important gaps; like the pharmacy, which has long been at the top of our ‘Wish List’ for Masouri. (In case you’re wondering, the other item on our list was an ice cream shop; thankfully that wish has also been fulfilled. Yay!)

So, what do you think Masouri needs, if anything? Your perspective and comments are always interesting. Feel free to share thoughts and suggestions below.

~ Happy Spring ~

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8 Responses to “Kalymnos in gear for spring: New shops, recycling, and more good stuff”

In addition I would like to say that a new totally free WIFI service followed by a informational website will begin to operate at the end of April, first in the Marina and harbour area and then in Massouri and Myrties. The infrastractures is ready in about 70% and we are waiting for the certicication from the National Regulatory Authority (EEET) to begin the operation of the system. If you need more information about the project email us at support@istel.gr

Happy to read something about Kalymnos, climbers and crisis, and how climbers can hopefully help about it.
Tourism has got a lot to do with crisis, just as much as war.
In fact, Kalymnos-news recently wrote about other modern waves of immigration…from Syria to Kaly, this time: “After the tragedy in Pharmakonisi traffickers choose Kalymnos for the disembarkation of illegal immigrants”… There we can read about more than 65 people arrested in Palionisos and Skalia during the month of February 2014. Their crime? Embarking to escape the war – a war that we italians should know something about (WikiLeaks published embarrassing informations about Finmeccanica, an Italian defence giant, and the Syrian regime).
So, while expressing human solidarity to all those desperate people touching ground on Kalymnos for very different reasons from ours, I also hope not to find policemen on bay shores and beaches when I’m on the island.

Good to hear People Are busy and work on their future! Hopefully the bins (Great idea) will be Used Not only by the climbers but also by the locals!!! My very futuristic Wish: only Electric scooters, fueled by what Kaly has plenty of! wind and Sun:) the Noise and smell was a real downpoint Last october! But i am optimistic!

I think that the recycling containers are a good thing. But I jhave not been able to spot any of these yet. Just the old green ones. Any hint where to find the new ones?
Have a beautiful spring.
Ludger

Hi Ludger,
Nobody knows when the recycling will start… The bins have not been distributed around the island yet, and unfortunately we have no new information. They’re probably still working out the bureaucracy.